Ties to Humanity
by HK-Revan
Summary: [Revised] What if Iruka died protecting Naruto from Mizuki? How would he turn out without his support?  Naruto is wearing a mask, when Iruka dies that mask is broken. Who would he turn to now? Would he even stay a shinobi? AU
1. The mussings of a friend

Author's note: For those who read this before you would notice that it is different. That was the result of pushing the wrong button and not saving the story. Therefore, it is being revamped and reposted. 

Disclaimer: I do not own this Naruto

If you were a stranger, walked into Konoha village, and asked its citizens and shinobi what they thought of Naruto Uzumaki, the answers they would give would make you wonder what has this person done to get the wrath of the village. They would tell you he is a monster, demon, evil child, and deserved to die.

Fortunately, you knew who he was and pitied him.

Then you asked where he lived and they would point you to the way.

You would notice his apartment was dirty, and as you approach the door, you notice how quiet it is. The door opens without a sound for it was not locked. You notice how the doorknob was scratched in several places and you could see markings on it. The door itself and the frame were dented The person who lived in it was burgled so many times that he stopped replacing the locks. As you walked in you saw that the apartment was a mess. Empty ramen bowls and dirty cloths placed haphazardly in the room. You walk through noting how sparse it was. You could tell the walls were painted, the brush strokes awkward. There was a walrus cap and clothes. When you opened the drawers, you notice that in the bottom drawer, it was filled with rocks and notes on pieces of paper. Apparently, the villagers threw rocks through his window, and judging by the amount there was, for a good while now. You read a few before throwing the rest away in disgust.

There are other kinds of abuse, some are unseen and harder to detect than others are.

You wonder how anyone could live through this, much less a child. Then you wonder who would allow this to happen. How could responsible adults turn a blind eye? You ask yourself how could you have ignored this, and allowed the darkness of human hearts lash out on an innocent boy. In fact, you have not really checked on the boy until news of the Incident reached your ears. In worry, you decided to give him a visit. In this visit, you are learning so much more of the silent boy that sat in the corner of your class.

You walked away and asked the property owner where Naruto is. Her evident disgust of the boy shows through and she tells you he is at the park.

You walk to the park scanning the area for him. It was quiet due to the fact most kids are at the Ninja Academy, where he should be. You see a boy with a spiral on his orange shirt sitting on a swing alone. The shirt was full of wrinkles and ramen stains. It was obvious he did not wash it for many days. He was only six and yet he lives alone.

You walk over to him. You notice how he flinched when you stood next to him. If you were ignorant about the Incident, you would have thought he was scared of a big adult shinobi. However, you knew better. Moreover, sometimes you wished you did not.

Sometimes, ignorance was happiness. Then you would not have any guilt to deal with it.

"Hi, is the swing taken?" You asked the boy. You kept your voice warm and friendly. It was like trying to calm a frightened animal. Make a wrong move and they will bolt.

The boy's head, which was downcast, tilted upward slightly and nodded. He did not make eye contact.

You kneel slightly, eyes level with him. You wanted to make yourself the same size as he, so he would not be afraid of you. It was a fruitless attempt because he knows you are bigger than he is but it was attempt. Far more than others have done for him.

He had a thin frame, with clothes that draped over his limbs. His face was adorned with three whisker marks on each cheek. Bright blond hair contrasted his eyes. The boy's eyes were dark blue, dull and blank. You knew those eyes. You recognized those lonely and sad eyes.

They were eerily similar to yours when you were a child.

While yours might not have been the same shade of color, they were similar in other ways. Those eyes were devoid of hope, cut off from dreams.

The boy was the container of the dreaded Kyubi.

A voice in the back of your head kept on telling you that the boy is a monster and that he deserved every hit, every curse word, and every broken bone. Even now, you can see the demon chained inside him, staring at you through those broken eyes. The demon stares mockingly at you. At times, you catch his eyes flash red and you panic. Was the demon resurfacing? Was the demon escaping? While you can see the demon, the child could not. All he sees are the stares of his peers and hatred that is directed at him. He does not even know why he was hated so much.

You always saw him as a normal kid albeit shy but normal. Now that you truly looked at him, you see yourself, unwanted, unloved and full of pain.

There was this burning questions that hovered at the tip of his tongue, the tip of your tongue.

_Why?_

_Why me?_

You could feel his question even though he never spoke. He was strangely silent, always quiet, and always seemly invisible. After the Incident you knew why he was so silent. He did not want to attract attention. Because all the attention he knew were the bad kind. He wanted to not be seen. However, he was never invisible. He was shadowed by ANBU for his own safety. His teachers always looked at him when a disturbance occurred. He was the center of attention, under the ire of adults but not under the love of a community but the hatred.

You asked yourself, did anyone deserve this?

"You're a shinobi." Stated the silent child whose abnormally polite voice was only heard once a few times in class. In class, he is not outspoken or loud.

"Yes." You answer, hoping to coax him into a conversation, hoping to coax him out of his shell that protected from the world.

"Why did you become a ninja?" With sudden realization, you understood why he was asking you these questions. Every aspiring genin had to answer these questions on a quiz. It was a way for teachers to get to know their students, a way to understand their dreams and motivations.

"To protect my precious people." That was your dream in life. You reason to be a shinobi.

"Precious people?" His question startles you and you realize that while you had parents he had nothing, no one to love, no one to tell him that he was important. All he had were the disapproving looks of his peers and the ignorance of children his age.

"People who I am willing to die for." You clarify, wishing that you were not the one telling him. You were not good at this, you were better at teaching chakra control to kids.

You were a teacher not a psychologist.

"Am I one of your precious people?" His soft question jarred you out of your musings.

_Is Naruto one of your precious people?_

You did not know him. You were not his family. But you cared for him, and you wanted to help him.

The tiny voice in your head told you no, but the other voice, the louder voice said yes.

Naruto was crying out for help.

You notice that Naruto had curled himself up while you were thinking. A defense mechanism you thought.

"Yes, you are one of my precious people." For the first time, the boy lifted his head to look at you.

He was smiling, his foxy grin contagious making you grin as well. Again, you catch a flicker of red appearing before drowning in those sky blue eyes.

"Come on, let's go back to class. I'm sure you don't want to miss today's lesson."

You hold out your hand waiting for the boy to grab it. For a brief, second all you feel is air and then the warm feel of flesh. He grabs your hand and starts running towards the academy dragging you along. A part you know he does not trust you but is willing to give you a chance. It was what you would have done.

You smile, and let Naruto drag you back to the classroom.

You, Umino Iruka, the teacher of Uzumaki Naruto was the first to show him love.

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I am so sorry for the sudden disappearance of the fic. So sorry. But there were some things that I had to change.


	2. Attacked

Disclaimer: I do not own this or that. Nope I do not own Naruto.

Note: For all those who thought the next chapter would be a time jump to the genin exams you are wrong! For I have changed my story and added more flesh to the bones. I wanted to add a more background to the story so you would understand why things happen the way it did. So please enjoy the revised version.

Naruto stared at the kunai. He examined it, noting the detail and weight. He then very careful pulled his arm back, gathered momentum and threw the kunai. With a whooshing sound, it missed the target by a large margin and disappeared into the bushes. Naruto took another kunai and threw it again, using the same techniques and again missing.

The target had only two kunai stuck in it. The rest of the shinobi tools littered the area around it. Naruto was a lousy shot.

"You are such an idiot." A loud voice said behind him, the childish tone behind it identifying the owner as a kid. Naruto turned to see who was talking. It was Sasuke Uchiha. The boy had his hands stuck in his pockets and a scowl on his face. "You are doing it wrong."

Naruto blinked at Sasuke. "But I'm doing it the way Iruka-sensei said to do it." After making friends with Iruka-sensei, he was more comfortable in asking Iruka how to do certain ninja skills. Iruka-sensei has also been helping Naruto work on 'social skills'.

Now his emotions extended from being silent to being boisterous. He also learned that laughing was great for the soul. Iruka-sensei also hinted at pranks. He also hinted that they were healthy for young boys his age. Naruto has yet to learn about what pranks are. There is also apprehension in Iruka's eyes when Naruto mentioned something about the Talk. Again, he had no idea what it was except that Iruka stutters and his face grows red at the mention of the word.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Everyone has a different style. It's ob..bvious this way of throwing doesn't help you." He had struggled at the word obvious. Sasuke was trying to impress the dead last with his large vocabulary. As an Uchiha, he was supposed to be a superior breed of ninja.

In demonstration, Sasuke took his kunai out and threw it. His body was positioned differently from what Iruka-sensei taught them. The kunai hit the target dead center with a thump, embedding the tip. "See?" Naruto clapped his hands acknowledging Sasuke's greater skill.

Sasuke then turned heel and walked away. He did his contribution in helping the dead last. It was his father's suggestion that the superior Uchiha should help others. It had took him some time to track down the dead last. Now it was time to go home and taste his mothers wonderful cooking.

When Sasuke disappeared, Naruto faced the tree trunk. He focused and channeled his energy and thoughts to hitting the tree trunk. He never did like focusing. Whenever he did that, everything was clearer, and more transparent. He could see through people's disguises and ill attempts at making his life miserable.

The 'clear thinking' appeared after the Incident. After that, there were times that he could see past the duplicity. The veil that was placed before his eyes wavered at times. He never liked it when that happened. However, for Iruka-sensei he would focus and see. With sudden speed and grace, he mimicked Sasuke's move, the kunai hit the target, knocking Sasuke's kunai out.

Naruto smiled inwardly to himself. Now he could show Iruka-sensei his new skill. He picked up all the kunai and shuriken, making sure he did not lose any. He placed them all in a box. The meager amount of money he gets every month barely covers his apartment fees not to mention his groceries. Therefore, Iruka-sensei allowed him to borrow the schools as long as he returned all in one piece. At first, Iruka-sensei watched over him, making sure all the tools were brought back. However, as time progressed, Naruto was allowed to take them without supervision. He was being trusted and Naruto would never break this trust.

He picked the box up and walked to Iruka's apartment. He had been training for a few hours and the sun was setting. It has become daily routine for him to train for a few hours after class ended. It was better than going home and hoping no one trashed his apartment.

As he walked, he felt someone was watching him. He stopped and turned his head. His eyes scanned the area, looking for his watcher. After a few seconds, he resumed walking. The same prickling feeling returned. Naruto jumped, dodging a few shuriken that hit the ground where he had been standing. In midair, he could not control his direction and as a result could not dodge the kick that slammed into ribcage. He was sent flying into the river.

With a splash, he plunged into the river. The pain in his ribcage distracted him from being able to swim. In a few seconds he could not tell up from down. Something in his head was telling him to ditch the box because it was dragging him to the bottom of the river due to its weight. He ignored the voice. He could not break his promise to his friend.

He would not. He hated disappointment and disapproval

Water was filling his lungs. Spots appeared in his vision. His limbs felt heavy. He could not breathe. He knew these symptoms; he felt this before. Except for the water thing, that was somewhat new.

He was dying. And this time, no one was going to save him.

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I am sure you are asking yourself…what is the Incident?

Well, I am not telling. Not till later of course.


	3. Rescue

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Images flashed in front of his eyes, images of feet and their chakra coils. In his hazed state, Naruto could not understand what was happening. If he was thinking more clearly and not dying he would have realized that he never seen such images before in his life. But at that particular moment he was dying and thus did not have the time to think of such matters. Suddenly he was yanked out of the river.

Instinctively he took huge lungful of air. When he could finally open his eyes, he saw an older looking boy, a shinobi whose mask was hanging on his neck with blood dripping off his body. His eyes were red, almost glowing. The blood dripped off him onto Naruto, seeping into Naruto's cuts burning them.

Naruto stared at the ANBU whose hand was gripping his ankle. In his rather un-lucid state, he could not believe his eyes when he saw the ANBU was standing on the water.

He was then unceremoniously dumped on the ground. The box that he clutched was miraculously still intact. Without a word, he ran he ran to Iruka's house, ran without looking back.

The ANBU watched and turned away. He had a corpse to dispose of. The said corpse was a family member, a chunin of the Uchiha family. The Third Hokage had given him the mission of watching that person and it had paid off.

When the ANBU caught sight of his prey attacking the fox vessel he sprang into action. A miscalculation on his part, allowed his prey to have first blood. However, after that one hit, the weasel ANBU easily beheaded his opponent. He then went to drag Naruto out of the river.

He never noticed a pair of amber eyes watching the scene. The owner of those eyes disappeared into the underbrush, unseen and unnoticed.

When he returned to HQ, he placed a bandage on his wound and signed out. From there he went home. Sasuke awaited him with childish eagerness. His father once again congratulated him on his successful mission not even rebuking him on his killing of a clan member.

He was disgusted but did not show it. Already he distanced himself away from his family.

Already he plotted their death.

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Iruka heard a knocking sound. He shuffled to the door and opened it. There stood Naruto, soaked to the bone with an equally soaked box. Iruka noticed that there was blood smeared on his face and clothes.

"Naruto come in." Iruka closed the door behind him.

Naruto walked in and placed the box on the table.

"Are you okay?" Iruka asked concerned.

"I took a swim in the river." Naruto said, wringing out his wet clothes.

"What?" Iruka grabbed a few towels and gave them to Naruto. "Tell me what happened."

"Someone kicked me into the river and the heaviness of the box was dragging me down."

"Why didn't you let go of the box?" The box was ruined.

"I didn't want to break my promise to you." To Naruto a promise was one of the most important things in life.

"Naruto… "Iruka sighed. "I care for you. I don't want you to get hurt just because of a promise."

Naruto stared at Iruka. He knew Iruka cared for him. He understood that Iruka was a friend. One of the only friends he had.

"Now, let's get your washed up and dried. Then we can eat some dinner." Iruka showed Naruto to the bath and then busied himself with cooking.

After dinner, Iruka carried Naruto's tired body onto the bed and tucked him in.

The next morning Iruka went to do an errand and left a note for Naruto telling him where he went. Naruto himself woke in the middle of the afternoon and fixed himself some breakfast.

Then he went to a full-length mirror, he stared at his reflection. The mysterious shinobi who rescued him did not look that old. He looked like an older version of Sasuke.

Placing his hands together in a hand seal, he said in a very firm tone. "Henge."

With a poof, he transformed to a flawless copy of the ANBU except for the eyes. Naruto stared at the reflection and focused on the eyes. The ANBU's eyes were red with dots swirling in them. He focused his chakra into his eyes. He felt a prickling feeling in his eyes. When he opened them, they were still blue. Naruto tried repeatedly. Each time he failed.

With one final effort, he focused all his chakra even the one maintaining his henge to his eyes. When he opened them, he saw himself and red eyes with one dot in each. Naruto leaned in closer to his reflection; each eye had a small extra dot circling the pupil.

He grinned. He had finally mastered the henge. He could not wait to show Iruka. He allowed his chakra to drain away from his eyes leaving them blue again. All he could think was how happy Iruka would be when he sees his henge.

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Kyuubi watched the scene; her normally red eyes had faded to a rich amber color. She was trapped behind a cell with only a scrap of paper keeping her from freedom. She was idle though. When she realized she was trapped within a human vessel she screamed and yelled. She tried forcing her way through but soon realized that the seal was too strong, too well made for her to use brute strength.

She then decided to plot. She would make her vessel release her himself. But as the years passed she realized that something was wrong. Her vessel was too dumb, too thick headed. She always assumed humans were like this but in the boy's case, it was unnatural. So she snooped around as much as she could to find a reason.

She found out why.

It was her fault and the villagers as well. Her chakra messed up his chakra. Her vessel wasn't able to use simple jutsu because he puts too much chakra in it. She needed to find some way for him to drain his chakra down to a reasonable amount. She could not stop giving him chakra but she could help him manage it. The villagers did not treat him humanely and that repressed his natural genius. It did not help that his caretaker tried to kill him. From what Kyuubi knew about human emotional growth, she knew that a baby only knows what it is shown. Show it only hate and anger and it will grow up that way. Show no love, no affection no warmth and it too would be unused to such emotion. It was remarkable the vessel even knew how to smile.

There were times where her vessel was able to use all his brainpower. She planned to force him to use all of all the time. That way he would grow stronger and will not die because of an accident. She refused to die from a fall or trip. She refused to die that way.

She took her chance when they were attacked. She tried to send the boy images on how to walk on water. Unfortunately, his mind was too clouded and he did not get the message. When they were rescued. She threw another plan into motion. After thinking about it a long time, she decided to make her host better. By using her own skills, she was able to use blood to replicate a bloodline.

When the blood dripped into her vessel's cuts, she used long forgotten youkai magic to change her vessel. It was a long shot but worth the risks. If she failed, her host would die.

Only one day later and her work have bore fruit. Her vessel now sported the Uchiha bloodline, the sharingan.

She watched as her vessel unlocked the secret of the Uchiha bloodline. Now that he was able to bleed off his chakra, she suspected he could do Bushin No Jutsu.

With a sleepy mutter, she curled up. She had done a lot of work and needed rest. What she had done was no easy feat especially when she was trapped. So she deserved a little rest.


	4. Eyes

When Iruka returned home, he was too tired to do anything. Naruto cooked up some ramen and placed a blanket on his tired teacher. He then went back to his apartment. It was a mess. Someone took advantage of his absence and pray painted the walls red with curse words.

Naruto went into his closest and took out paint. He had long given up on scrubbing the walls so he decided to repaint them. It was more efficient this way. After he finished painting, he went straight to bed forgetting about his accomplished henge.

The next day was a school day. Early in the morning, he tumbled out of bed, stumbling to the kitchen table. When he arrived, he was early and got a choice of seats. He picked the furthest in the back, as to escape the scorn in his fellow classmate's eyes.

The people in his class either ignored him or jeered at him, except for the extremely shy girl in the back with no pupils. Naruto found it strange that every time he caught her looking at him she had this strange expression on her face. He could not make heads or tails of it.

"Settle down, everyone." Shouted a teacher. "Today we are going to test you on henge. So everyone line up right now."

All the students grumbled, Kiba the loudest. Shikamaru who was the class bum, merely snoozed on. Ino woke him up by pushing off his chair. Ino then dragged him into the line.

A few succeeded and some failed. Some made it halfway. Those who finished went back to their seats.

"Next!" Iruka held his notepad and looked at Naruto. Iruka was still a student teacher, not yet a full teacher. He was helping the teacher of this class.

Naruto focused on the henge from last night. "Henge." This time he focused chakra into his eyes too.

With a poof, he transformed into the ANBU. Iruka was surprised and noted that the henge was flawless except for the eyes.

"Sorry Naruto, the eyes have three dots not one. Good try though." Iruka marked the paper.

Naruto nodded and disengaged the henge. He went back to his seat.

After school, he went back to his regular training area where Iruka waited for him.

"Hello Iruka-sensei."

Iruka smiled. "Alright, Naruto try the henge again. I know you can do it."

Naruto nodded and focused on the henge. Again, it was flawless except for the eyes.

"Naruto maybe you should practice on perfecting the eyes. Remember there are three not one dot." Iruka patted Naruto on the head. "I have to go finish grading papers. I'll be back to check on your progress."

Naruto watched as Iukra left. He promised himself one day he'd be powerful enough to protect himself and his precious people.

Naruto took out a mirror. He needed it to check his reflection.

With a deep breath, he focused his chakra into his eyes. He felt a prickling feeling in his eyes whenever he placed chakra in there.

Repeatedly he tried. Each time failing.

Naruto sat on the ground exhausted. Wetness gathered at the corner of his eyes.

He was sick and tired of failing. He was sick and tired at being jeered at. He was sick and tired of being weak.

He hated being helpless.

A few months ago, he nearly died when his caretaker tried to kill him. He froze in fright and disbelief. She had lured him in a sense of false security and then used a pillow to suffocate him. He trusted her. She was his friend. But in the end she wanted to kill him.

He would have died if it were not for the ANBU. They pulled her away from him. They saved him.

The ANBU were cold. Their eyes were dark. They held no emotion. Their eyes held no hate or anger. In a way that made Naruto glad. While their eyes held no friendship, they held no disgust.

They were neutral.

In Naruto's eyes, they were people that he would trust with his life.

They were also people he knew would kill him if they were ordered to do so.

Such were the ANBU.

In the end, the only person in the world who was his precious person was Iruka-sensei.

Naruto would do anything for Iruka.

Stubbornly Naruto wiped away his tears. He knew crying never helps.

Clasping his hands together, Naruto focused all his chakra into his eyes. He felt a prickling feeling in his eyes. With a growl he continued despite the pain.

When he opened them, he was pleased to see two dots. He then passed out.

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Deep inside Kyuubi cursed loudly.

"That brat!" She shouted in anger. "How dare he move to the second level of the Sharingan so early!"

She looked at the chaos that is Naruto's chakra system.

With an angry growl, she set about fixing the coils. Her chakra spread out healing damaged chakra coils. She focused on mostly the eyes. The brat had placed so much strain on the eyes that they were starting to deteriorate. Luckily, he had Kyuubi.

Without her Naruto would have gone blind. Kyuubi had to daily heal Naruto eyes's as long as he used the blood limit ability. That leeches away a small portion of her chakra. Later when he develops, more Kyuubi should be able to stop continuously healing Naruto's eyes. By that time, his eyes will adjust to the bloodline.

However, for now, his chakra coils will continually be fixed and adapted. He would unknowingly sacrifice his eyes for his chakra control.

With Naruto's eyes at the second stage, Kyuubi had to adapt Naruto's system to the change. Changing a person genetic structure was hard especially since she was trapped inside him. Her goal was to adapt Naruto's genetic code enough that he would be able to use the Uchiha bloodline like any other Uchiha.

She had other bloodlines to choose from but picked Uchiha. She had her own personal reasons.

Kyuubi looked around amused. "And this is my defense against Uchiha Madara."

She laughed loudly at her own joke. She then started working.

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Iruka traveled back to the training place. A smile crept on his face when he saw the sleeping Naruto. Gently he picked up Naruto and carried him back to Naruto's apartment.

Once he tucked Naruto away Iruka walked to the kitchen. He checked the milk to make sure it had not expired and tossed the dirty clothes into the basket.

Iruka looked around at the dirty apartment and smiled ruefully.

"One day Naruto, I think you'll surpass us all." Iruka whispered. "If the Third believes so then so do I."

The Third had approached him and asked for a report on Naruto's behavior. At first Iruka was shocked and then remembered that this was a shinobi village and almost nothing goes by without the Third knowing.

The Third congratulated Iruka on befriending Naruto. He encouraged Iruka to continue being Naruto friend and guardian. He also wanted Iruka to make sure to inform him of any sudden changes in Naruto's personality. There is always a chance that the Kyuubi breaks the seal and takes Naruto. In case of such a scenario, Iruka was ordered to kill Naruto before the Kyuubi completely breaks free.

Iruka was not sure if he'd ever be able to convey that order. Every day he prayed that Kyuubi would become free so then he will never have to slit Naruto's throat.

Every day.


End file.
